Brandtone took GOLD in the “Lead Generation” category at the MMA Smarties Gala in New York.

Brandtone picked-up the award at this year’s Global Smarties Awards for its work with Unilever’s Inmarko in Russia. As well as taking GOLD in the “Lead Generation” category, Brandtone was shortlisted for “Best in Show” at last night’s Gala, organised by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).

Brandtone’s gold-medal winning work with Unilever’s Inmarko branded ice cream (Magnat, MAX, Cornetto, Ekzo) was built around a countrywide campaign that engaged and rewarded traders who operate in the traditional sales channels and have been previously difficult to engage with.

Unilever used a reward ladder of incentives devised by Brandtone to connect Inmarko with these traditional traders, using mobile for its entire communication. A key driver to motivate traders to participate actively was the guaranteed airtime reward.

Brandtone also used Konnect, their innovative online reporting platform and unique coding solution allowing Unilever to track the full sales history of the store. The ‘call to action’ for the traders was to register via SMS message with a short store code and give permission for future communications.

As a result, Unilever and Brandtone were able to build a database of 33,000 permission-based traders, who can now be retargeted and communicated with directly. The campaign also resulted in a double-digit measurable increase in sales.

Accepting the award on behalf of Brandtone and Unilever, Alexander Ragozin, General Director, Brandtone Russia, said: “We are thrilled to have picked up an award at the Smarties this year. This is a great reward for our cooperative and fruitful work with Unilever and the commitment across the teams. Not only have we delivered a huge uplift in sales but also loyalty to our client and the building of relationships in the traditional trade channels.”

This year the MMA received over 1,000 submissions from more than 30 countries. As well as winning for its campaign with Inmarko, Brandtone was shortlisted in the “Relationship Building/CRM” category for its ‘360° - 365 days always-on engagement’ campaign with Bru Coffee in India, another of Unilever’s brands